Mt. Silverheels and Little Baldy

Dates of Trip: 3-4 July 2010
Climbers: hobo and tortoise
Location: Mosquito Range, CO, USA
Trailhead: Gold Dust
Summit Objectives: Mt. Silverheels and Little Baldy
Summits: Little Baldy at 12142 ft, Mt. Silverheels at 13882 ft
Starting Ele: 10330 ft
Ele. Gain: 4500 ft
Distance: 12.6 mile

We were planning to head to Jasper for a 3 night backpack of the Skyline Trail on 8 July.  Problem was, we hadn't packed into anything in quite some time.  So we decided to take a shakedown trip over the holiday weekend, and bag some summits we'd been meaning to get, besides.  (Silverheels has been on our list for a loooong time, since we met.)

So on the morning of July 3rd, just as it was starting to get hot at the lower elevations, we headed up past Como to the Gold Dust Trailhead.  We had opted for winter mountaineering pants, anticipating snow and cold temperatures at elevation... but this turned out to be a poor choice.  It was HOT.  Ah well, this is the reason you do a shakedown trip, right?

HOT.

We packed in about two miles to the saddle between Little Baldy and Silverheels and set up camp in a small stand of trees on the breezy saddle at approximately 11,200ft.  That done, and a lunch of beef jerky had, and we were ready to tackle Little Baldy.  This involved a scamper through the shadowy, mosquito-y forest that covered the base of the mountain, and then seemingly straight up the side to the summit.  All of the elevation gain in about a half a mile (this turned out to be excellent training for The Notch on the Skyline Trail the following weekend).  The summit was a rocky pile of talus, and we sat in the wind and surveyed Como and Fairplay.

Summit photo.  Where we lost the cap to the Nalgene, may it rest in peace

Before too long, dayhikers were coming up the standard route in their jeans and sneakers, so we skedaddled down the steep slope and ran the mosquito gauntlet back to camp.

Sleeping at 11,200 went much much better this week than sleeping at 12,000 ft had the previous week.  This was likely a combination of factors.  (1) We had attempted to sleep at 12,000ft the previous week.  (2) We had obeyed the "climb high, sleep low" adage.  (3) We had worked hard that day, instead of just driving up from our desk jobs.  We slept like logs.

We got an early start (with the sunrise) up the East Ridge of Mt. Silverheels, a gorgeous class 1 walk up with spectacular views.  We ran into 3 mountain goats on the way up, who sort of looked like they were going to approach us.  I said, "I know how to deal with bears and mountain lions... but how does one fend off a goat?!"  Luckily (?) they kept their distance.

Skeleton trees and the Silverheels summit

Goats

From the broad, beautiful Silverheels summit, we had spectacular views of Hoosier Ridge, and many of our favorite Front Range, Mosquito Range, and Ten Mile Range summits, which are too numerous to list here.  It was a superbly clear day, and we could see to the southern Sawatch range, and on Independence Day, we had a patriotic view of Pike's Peak (the inspiration for "purple mountain majesty" in America the Beautiful).  We enjoyed a long 20 minute stay on the summit (long by our standards - it's usually freezing), signed the summit register, and descended to the saddle.  We packed up camp and hiked out, feeling thoroughly ready for Skyline and Jasper.  Bring it on.

Signing the summit register.

"For purple mountain majesty..."